17 Answers
17

The main two differences between Ubuntu and its derivatives are the backing and the default installed packages. For all official derivatives, you can convert between variants by installing certain packages.

This is the KDE flavor of the typical Ubuntu (which is GNOME driven). The primary difference is that Kubuntu comes with KDE as the default Desktop Environment, as opposed to GNOME with the Unity shell.

Kubuntu is sponsored by Blue Systems. Canonical stopped backing it in 2012, but it is still an officially recognized Ubuntu variant, which means that it gets build machines, test machines, CD image distribution servers, etc. dedicated to it.

Ubuntu GNOME aims to have a mostly pure GNOME desktop installed by default.

Ubuntu GNOME is community-driven. It was originally called Ubuntu GNOME Remix; it was renamed to Ubuntu GNOME when it became officially recognized. Ubuntu GNOME is very new: its first release as an official derivative was 13.04 Raring Ringtail, which as of 6/9/13 is the current release.

This is a lighter weight, highly efficient and optimized flavor of Ubuntu designed to run on older computers. It uses Xfce which is a proven faster Desktop Environment than both KDE and GNOME. This is a typically simpler slim interface.

Xubuntu is community-driven and operates under a Strategy Document. It is also officially recognized by Canonical (see Kubuntu for what that means).

Ubuntu Server is optimized for use as a server. It does not come with X.Org, and as such does not use any graphical environment like a desktop environment or a window manager. Instead, it comes only with a CLI environment.

The counterpart to Xubuntu - Mythbuntu is designed to be an entertainment powerhouse. Focused around being a Media Center it includes many drivers and setups for TV Tuners, TV Out cards, and has a Media Center application (MythTV) integrated into the Desktop Environment to facilitate the entertainment powerhouse it advertises.

Lubuntu takes the aims of Xubuntu and pushes the Desktop Environment to an even more bare bones lightweight variant: LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) which is supposed to be an even more efficient, power saving, fast, lightweight Desktop Manager than XFCE.

Lubuntu is community-driven. It is officially recognized as a variant by Canonical.

My Opinion

I've used the first three before and I believe all have some backing from Canonical (or other corporate backing) while Lubuntu is still relatively new and community driven. Though if you have a very old/slow computer it certainly might be what you're looking for.

This flavor is designed with Educational intent. Runs very close to the vanilla Ubuntu release though it comes with many additional applications that are best suited for an Educational environment. It also is configured and stylized with kids in mind.

This flavor is geared towards those who deal with multimedia (Video, Audio, Graphics, Design) on a daily basis. Comes bundled with many applications, codecs, and drivers required to facilitate those activities.

Ubuntu CE (Ubuntu Christian Edition) is Ubuntu designed for Christians who wish to maintain an "Christianly" lifestyle. This comes bundled with a lot of religious software and security tools to help protect moral religious obligations.

Just so you know, Fluxbuntu uses Fluxbox as its WM. > "in this case Flux which is another alternative Window Manager for Linux"
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GödelOct 29 '10 at 21:02

Where do "desktop" and "server" fit into this roster? Does that only apply to the master Ubuntu distribution, or do the others also have desktop, server, netboot, etc. releases?
–
Andrew VitOct 22 '11 at 21:19

Ubuntu

The most common and known, Ubuntu uses the Unity Desktop as default and creates an standard desktop environment for TVs, smartphones and desktops. Ubuntu is not considered a lightweight distro although it works on some low end hardware.

Kubuntu

Most Windows users love this one since the transition from Windows to the KDE desktop is very easy to grip. To top it off, KDE is known to give pretty much many customization options for the user, ranging from general ones to very specific ones. This is also considered something bad (not from me at least) because it gives you a LOT of options to customize. Don't be amazed if you find an option for your fridge there. Like Ubuntu, Kubuntu is not a lightweight distro.

Ubuntu Mate

It offers users a new desktop look using the Mate Desktop experience and mixing features and hardware requirements from lightweight distributions with more robust distributions. A reborned unique desktop experience.

Ubuntu Kylin

Developed primarily for China, Ubuntu Kylin offers many unique features not found in other flavors of Ubuntu (Apart from Mandarin as default ^^). It originated from the Kylin operating system designed in China by the National University of Defense Technology. The name Kylin comes from the Mythical Chimerical creature Qilin, which is a creature that when it appears it means a good omen (Prosperity or Peace). It is often called the Chinese Unicorn, which would be simply amazing when Utopic Unicorn arrives.

General GPU usage and performance actually varies more on what type of Video card, CPU, Amount of RAM and Motherboard you are using than on what Desktop you are using. In any case, at the end you can see the overall FPS performance for each Desktop.

Test took one week and was done with the following Hardware:

CPU: Intel i7-4770

Intel Haswell Integrated GPU

Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB

RAM: 4 GB DDR3

MOBO: Asus Z87 Pro

SDD was formatted each time a new distribution was tested

Office Apps means the following:

LibreOffice Writer, Calc & Impress opened with a simple document

For the Cases of Lubuntu & Xubuntu, the Office Suite was Gnumeric and Abiword

For the Cases of Mythbuntu & Ubuntu Studio, there were no Office Suite. Because of this, the Full Apps tests for them, does not include any Office Suite.

For the case of Mythbuntu which does not come with Firefox by default I used Chromium. I also had to exit the MythTV Application which launches by default to do the tests.

The Real Hardware Requirements are based on my personal opinion on how the user would perceive Ubuntu when using it. Will it be slow or fast. Will it load apps quick or take longer. Is the desktop responsive or sluggish. How much resources does the distribution actually take. This are my personal hardware requirements when trying out this particular distribution, but as they are personal, they can vary from hardware to hardware and user to user. The objective is to give the user an idea of what actual requirements could be needed and proceed from there on.

The CPU and RAM usage is to give the end user an idea on how much that particular distribution uses when having several applications opened. This should be taken litely since the scenario could change. For example having Blender opened while rendering a video can use more CPU and RAM than having LibreOffice opened with several documents. So do not take this resource usage seriously, only use it as a basic guide, especially since the type of CPU and CPU power can dramatically change the usage value (Eg: Comparing an Intel P4 2.4Ghz with an Intel i7-4770).

THe CPU and RAM usage is tested AFTER the process has finished loading. This means that the CPU might spike when loading an application but will then settle after the loading process has finished. The average value when settled is the one I take into account. Same goes for RAM.

The various different versions of Ubuntu differ only by branding and the default set of packages. On the inside all of the variations are similar and can be easily extended to include packages from each other just by going to the package manager and installing the packages you want.

So in a way there aren't that many differences between them.

On the other hand by default they focus on different things. Kubuntu focuses on KDE tools while Ubuntu focuses on Gnome tools and so on. So in the end it's mostly about your preferences.

Which one is most suitable for your old system depends a lot on how old the system is and what kind of hardware it has. The lightest ones of the bunch are lubuntu and xubuntu, not that others are too demanding either.

There is a bit more a difference then the branding between the different versions. Not all the versions get the same support as each other. As mentioned above Xubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu are the only official recognized remixes of Ubuntu by Canonical. Canonical pays for developers for these different releases. Also Kubuntu's philosophy has tried to keep as close to KDE base as possible while integrating what Canonical has developed.
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jjesseAug 6 '10 at 18:03

If I can, I would like to make a correction here. Ubuntu and Kubuntu receive official support from Canonical, the corporation behind Ubuntu. Xubuntu has not ever received support, although it is recognized as an official derivative. The developers of Xubuntu do so on their own time as volunteers. For use in an older computer, I would suggest either Xubuntu or Lubuntu, both of which are designed to use fewer resources than Ubuntu and Kubuntu.

Kubuntu

Most Windows users love this one since the transition from Windows to the KDE desktop is very easy to grip. To top it off, KDE is known to give pretty much many customization options for the user, ranging from general ones to very specific ones. This is also considered something bad (not from me at least) because it gives you a LOT of options to customize. Don't be amazed if you find an option for your fridge there. Like Ubuntu, Kubuntu is not a lightweight distro.

Notes about Ubuntu Gnome

Because it uses the Gnome Shell, the way the user interface appears, it feels like you are using a futuristic version of some operating system. Looks very good (I feel like I am 10 Years in the future and this is coming from a 99% Unity user).

Similar to Unity, it has a harder learning curve, even when compared to Unity, but if you learn to use it (Took me 25 minutes the first time), you can do many things very quickly.

It offers many integrated features for applications like chat, webcam, documents and more, everything with a very sleek design.

Ubuntu

The most common and known, Ubuntu uses the Unity Desktop as default and creates an standard desktop format for TVs, smartphones and desktops. Ubuntu is not considered a lightweight distro although it works on some low end hardware.

Notes about Ubuntu

Learning to use the Unity Desktop can be a bit hard in the beginning, especially if you are coming from Windows, another Linux distribution, an older version of Ubuntu or a Mac. I tested the Unity desktop (Ubuntu 14.04.1) on my wife, a friend that uses Windows 7 and another that uses Mac. I could not say anything about the environment and they had to learn on their own how to use the Dash, the Launcher, change System Settings, install and find applications, use the File manager and connect to the network.

My wife took 30 minutes, while my Windows 7 friend took 20 minutes and my Mac friend took 10 minutes. So even if the appearance is completely different, all of them after two weeks told me positive news about how Unity behaved, from making them more productive (Quicker apps access, dash shortcuts, etc..) to simplifying steps to get a job done (Launcher, the HUD and more).

More than anything, for the Unity Desktop to be responsive, you need a good video card. I would recommend any video card that has 256 MB of RAM or more. With that in mind, I have actually tested 128 MB with no problem with the latest Unity, so the minimum requirements for it might be going down with newer updates.

Ubuntu Kylin

Developed primarily for China, Ubuntu Kylin offers many unique features not found in other flavors of Ubuntu (Apart from Mandarin as default ^^). It originated from the Kylin operating system designed in China by the National University of Defense Technology. The name Kylin comes from the Mythical Chimerical creature Qilin, which is a creature that when it appears it means a good omen (Prosperity or Peace). It is often called the Chinese Unicorn, which would be simply amazing when Utopic Unicorn arrives.

Notes about Ubuntu Kylin

Since this is the Ubuntu distribution from China, the default language to install is Chinese (Mandarin), so you need to press F2 when the LiveDVD or LiveUSB shows up in the case you don't read Mandarin.

Ubuntu Kylin offers many features out of the box, like an option to quickly use the terminal in a specific place

It uses the Unity desktop with a blue style that delivers a more "happy" environment.

When turning the computer off or rebooting, it includes a cool shutdown animation.

On the top right corner, just below the Cog to access the Ubuntu settings, Ubuntu Kylin offers a Bandwidth Transfer Speed widget with a clean up option attached to it.

Notes about Edubuntu

In Edubuntu I do not recommend using the Unity Desktop since the Educational applications are not shown straight away. The user would need to know them first before searching for them on the Unity Dash. I recommend using the optional Gnome Fallback until the user knows the name of the apps.

Edubuntu comes with an amazing arsenal of tools to have a classroom operating under Linux in no time, including Student PC remote control, remote teaching, many educational applications for all levels and more. This is really an amazing distribution.

Notes about Ubuntu Studio

This is a complete and amazing designed system. It has a full audio & video suite. It offers many 2D and 3D design applications and offers many multimedia apps for specific goals. Amazing.

Ubuntu Studio includes Wine by default.

By default, Ubuntu Studio does not come with any Office suite (It is a multimedia distribution), but it does offer an option to install them. For this particular distribution it offers Abiword and Gnumeric or the complete LibreOffice suite.

Ubuntu Mate

It offers users a new desktop look using the Mate Desktop experience and mixing features and hardware requirements from lightweight distributions with more robust distributions. A reborned unique desktop experience.